EU parties want GM threshold in Europe

The latest ISAAA report on the GM production area
shows the increasing popularity of the cultivation of biotech crops for farmers
around the world. As compared to last year, GM plantings increased by 12 % in
2007 and, in some cases, represent up to 90% of total
crops.

This upward trend has been recorded for more than 10
years now and shows no sign of stopping. This leads the seed breeding companies
to develop ever more new GM events, for cultivation, processing, food and feed
uses in the EU's main supplying countries. The EU is a major importer of raw
materials from these countries, particularly of soybeans and soybean products,
and feed ingredients from the maize processing industry.

Asynchronous
policyAccording to DG AGRI, while the GM approval process takes on
average 15 months in the US, the European authorization process takes over 30
months. These asynchronous approval processes represent a serious threat to the
supply of vital sectors of the European food and feed industry, which cannot
secure the necessary raw materials for the crushing plants and/or the compound
feed units.

Zero toleranceThe current zero tolerance policy in
the EU puts in jeopardy soybean crushing in Europe. Already in autumn 2008,
possible trace level presence of new GM varieties in US soybeans (not yet
authorized for import and processing in the EU) will bring the traditional
crushing of US soybeans in the EU to a standstill. Soon thereafter, upon
cultivation of the new GMO varieties in South America, if the zero tolerance
still applies and the new varieties are not yet authorized in the EU, all
soybean meal imports and the crushing of soybeans in the EU will stop with a
dramatic impact on all of the EU animal feeding industries.

EU
livestock sector suffersThe EU livestock sector will indeed suffer
irreversible damage, with the loss of up to 44% of its poultry and 35% of its
pig production according to DG AGRI estimates. There are no viable
alternatives to the import of approximately 35 million tonnes of soybean
products as the key vegetable protein component for animal feed.

Call for thresholdThis is the reason why the
European Grain Traders Association (COCERAL), the EU Oil and Proteinmeal
Industry (FEDIOL) and the European Feed Manufacturers Federation (FEFAC)
urgently call upon the EU and Member States for the establishment of a threshold
for the presence of GMOs, which have undergone a feed and food safety risk
assessment in and outside the EU according to the CODEX GM plant guideline. The
above-mentioned industries call upon the EU and Member State authorities to
safeguard the EU's crushing and livestock sector by tackling this issue of zero
tolerance before it is too late.